Top 4 Limb Loss Issues Treated by Massage Therapy

Traumatic and life-altering limb loss is accompanied by a long journey towards recovery both internally and externally. Massage therapy can help this recuperation, easing everything from muscle stiffness and swelling to sleep difficulties. Through this medium, trained technicians use a variety of manual techniques to target joints and tissues, easing not just the physical pain of limb loss, but targeting emotional and psychological roots of discomfort as well. Below are just a few of the issues relieved by massage stimulation and recommended by our team at BioAdvance Prosthetic Solutions:
 

Swelling

Excess fluid pools in new residual limbs as your heart finds the new normal for blood circulation. Fluid buildup creates pressure from within, which leads to tingling and numbness. Swelling can also interfere with prosthetic fit, creating skin irritation through excessive friction. Special massage techniques can reduce swelling by helping redistribute fluid from where it’s pooled in the limb to other parts of the body.
 

Phantom Pain

Following amputation, phantom pain can create sensations of cramping, throbbing and burning. As your brain’s sensory wires untangle themselves and rewire to other parts of your body, it confuses the loss of input from the site of amputation and reads it as pain. Massage therapy stimulates sensory input at the site of limb loss, temporarily overcoming your brain’s interpretation of pain.
 

Muscle Spasms

Limb loss affects your entire body, not just the area surrounding the residual limb. Sometimes spasms, stiffness and tightness occur in other muscles because they are attempting to compensate for the lack of a limb. These seemingly unrelated muscles bear weight and motion they weren’t designed to handle. A massage technician will first determine the type of muscle restriction and resulting pain to formulate a specific plan to target affected areas, incorporating massage techniques or things like trigger point therapy to alleviate pain. 
 

Scar Tissue

Tougher and less elastic than unaffected skin, scar tissue surrounding a residual limb creates a restriction of mobility. Itching, stiffness and aches can also stem from the immovable surface layer of skin, going up into skin stretched too tightly and making joints ache from reduced range of motion. Transverse friction massages rub skin perpendicular to the scar line, helping to properly align the collagen fibers of the scar and alleviating tightness of surrounding skin and joints.
 

Our team at BioAdvance Prosthetic Solutions is here for you every step of your recovery. Set up an appointment to meet with one of our experts to determine if massage therapy can benefit you!